folly, a leading digital arts organisation working in the Northwest of England and online, is delighted to invite proposals from artists/artist groups for our developing project, Portable Pixel Playground, a unique and imaginative environment that offers children and young people alternative play opportunities with art and technology. The playground encourages children to get active, think differently, collaborate and take risks through being exposed to new concepts and challenges created by artists.

Portable Pixel Playground is a modular set of equipment and artists' commissions for use in public settings such as shopping centres, galleries and railway stations. Portable Pixel Playground encourages young people to use everyday technologies in new and creative ways, providing them with interactive, physical and hands-on new experiences of art and technology.

Please include an Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form with your proposal, available to download from the folly website. This information will be used solely for monitoring purposes and will be kept in the strictest confidence. You are not obliged to fill in this form, but it will assist us if you do so. It will not be seen by those considering your proposal.

Deadline for proposals: Friday 3 July 2009

Fees and contractual details: * Each PPP commission will be a collaboration between folly and selected artist(s): artists will work closely with the PPP Project Manager and folly team throughout the development of each commission * Total artist's budget for each commission: £4,000 (including fees and materials) * folly will invest time and funding resources into each commission and the playground over and above each commission fee - to be negotiated for individual projects.* A separate budget for the transport of artwork will be agreed * Artist's travel/expenses: to be discussed and agreed with folly according to location, number of meetings etc

ArtCast is folly's platform for public access to new and innovative art, exploring the creative potential of the podcasting medium.

For April 2009, in association with moves, the international festival of movement on screen, we have selected five of the best new video works made by students based in England's Northwest, in response to the theme of moves09 - “Beyond Movement... What's Your Story?”

There will be five videos available to download or watch online. Starting on 24th April 2009, a new video will be released daily, throughout moves09 (23rd to 28th April).

Visit http://www.folly.co.uk/artcast now to find out more, subscribe to the podcast feed and check out the first video release. All the videos will also be available to play or download direct from the folly site as the festival progresses.

folly is a non-profit digital arts organisation and registered charity, working in the Northwest of England and online.

moves celebrates its 5th anniversary, 23 to 28 April in Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and UK-wide in cinemas, bars, restaurants and on the giant outdoors BBC Big Screens. At moves09 you can WATCH, SHARE, CREATE, and PLAY! The full festival programme with downloadable schedule, festival map and festival pass forms are available online at http://www.movementonscreen.org.uk

folly, FACT and Cornerhouse are embarking on an exciting joint venture to deliver a collaborative programme across the region; AND (Abandon Normal Devices) is an annual festival of new cinema and digital culture in the North West, taking place in Liverpool and Manchester on alternate years, with a distributed programme in Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire. AND is part of the region's WE PLAY offer for audiences which will enable people to be involved in high-profile quality events in the lead up to the Olympics and have a positive legacy beyond 2012.

folly is excited to advertise the key role of the AND Festival Producer, a new position based in Lancaster, working out of the folly offices. The principle purpose of the role is to develop and deliver the annual distributed offer of the festival. The post will require travel around the North West region.

The distributed offer of AND is currently being developed by folly and will carve out a new vision of what a festival might be.

Folly, a leading digital arts organisation, and Lanternhouse International are pleased to be seeking new applications for the Digital Artist Residency Scheme 2009.

The scheme will be of particular interest to established digital artists seeking time and space to develop new works, research innovative ideas, make new connections and explore technique or production.

Based at The National Creation Centre on the edge of the beautiful Lake District in Cumbria, UK, successful artists will be offered accommodation and a flexible and open-ended opportunity to push their work forward and creatively engage with the two partner organisations.

We are seeking innovative and experimental artists who are naturally collaborative and interested in leaving a local legacy through participatory activity.

Folly, a leading digital arts organisation, and Lanternhouse International are pleased to be seeking new applications for the Digital Artist Residency Scheme 2009.

The scheme will be of particular interest to established digital artists seeking time and space to develop new works, research innovative ideas, make new connections and explore technique or production.

Based at The National Creation Centre on the edge of the beautiful Lake District in Cumbria, UK, successful artists will be offered accommodation and a flexible and open-ended opportunity to push their work forward and creatively engage with the two partner organisations.

We are seeking innovative and experimental artists who are naturally collaborative and interested in leaving a local legacy through participatory activity.

Please apply before 2nd March 09 by email to wendy.rogerson 'at' folly.co.uk and include

* Your reason for applying * What you hope to achieve through the residency and anticipated outcomes * Your ideal time-scale * Some examples of your recent work * A completed equal opportunities monitoring form, available to download from folly's website at www.folly.co.uk/opportunities.

Shortlisted artists will be invited to visit Lanternhouse on the 16th or 17th March 09 to meet representatives of folly and Lanternhouse, talk through their ideas in more detail and share expectations of the residency.

Further questions can be directed to Kathryn Lambert, folly Creative Director or Jay Haigh, Creation Centre Director at Lanternhouse International.